By definition, going beyond capitalism lies outside of any government’s field of possibilities, in Greece or anywhere else. That is something more than urgently rescuing European capitalism from a catastrophe that would also be our own – it is a perspective on the horizon of prolonged social and political struggles that cannot limit themselves to the institutional terrain.

Willy De Backer's insight:

Interesting views but the main question is ducked. What is the project these new social and political struggles should fight for? My answer: how to prosper and redistribute in a post-growth economy? Little of this in Syriza reform proposals to the Eurogroup.

Once Wolfgang Schäuble, the flinty German finance minister, realized that Varoufakis couldn’t play the Grexit card, he knew that he had him where he wanted him. The German government point-blank refused even to consider a Greek request for an end to the bailout and a new bridging loan, and it quietly encouraged the E.C.B. to issue a series of warnings to the Greeks. And then, a couple of days ago, after Varoufakis had reversed course and asked for an extension of the current bailout, Schäuble rejected that request, too, forcing the Greeks to make even more concessions.

Critics of renewable energy have mocked the Energiewende, claiming that it has led to an increase in coal power and related CO2 emissions in Germany. But Conrad Kunze and Paul Lehmann of the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ show that this is a myth. German coal generation and CO2 emissions rose not because of but in spite of the Energiewende. They would have been even higher if Germany had not phased out its nuclear power and embarked on its remarkable renewable energy path. “There is no dark side to the Energiewende”

Willy De Backer's insight:

Excellent article on the German Energiewende and its impact on coal use.

The 4th February late-night decision by the European Central Bank to reject Greek bank collateral for monetary policy operations will, I confidently predict, precipitate not just a run on Greek banks; not just greater price instability across the Eurozone – but ultimately, the collapse of the fantastic machinery that is the ‘self-regulating’ economy of the Eurozone.

Willy De Backer's insight:

Excellent must-read analysis of the ECB's attack on democracy and Greece.

Under the guise of trying to change EU institutions from within, these parties might be coopted and exploited by EU oligarchs and elites. Alternatively, Syriza and Podemos might develop and strengthen ways of doing democratic politics that work in favor of genuine popular control. We hope they will take this second path and, by doing so, genuinely contribute to the coming of a European Democratic Spring.

Willy De Backer's insight:

Excellent article in Truthout about the dangers of the new European Spring parties being recuperated by the European elites. Will they be able to escape "Hollandeization" and Robert Michels 'iron law of oligarchy'? Only if the grassroots movements behind them stay vigilant and strong.

"In order for economic growth to occur, the wages of workers need to go farther and farther in buying goods and services. Low-priced energy products are far more effective in producing this situation than high-priced energy products. Substituting high-priced energy products for low-priced energy products can be expected to lead to lower economic growth."

The problem with existing institutions is that they developed in a very different kind of world. They are subject to all kinds of path dependencies, and are quite capability of generating feedback that reinforces their own necessity. So the institutions of global finance have successfully positioned themselves as ‘too big to fail’. The institutions of global environmental governance have failed to produce a comprehensive global treaty on anything since the Montreal Protocol for the protection of the ozone layer in 1987 – but that aspiration remains the focus of the efforts of most concerned actors, be they governments or environmental NGOs.

Willy De Backer's insight:

Excellent article by John Dryzek on LSE blog on the failure of current institutions to address the challenges of the social-ecological transition.

The economic policy of Spain’s rising leftwing party signals a new model of prosperity, but it could go further

Willy De Backer's insight:

Interesting look by degrowth expert Giorgios Kallis of the new economic model put forward by the Spanish Podemos party. But Kallis' analysis should go further too. The key challenge for any new economic model will be a democratic one: how to set, monitor and enforce ecological limits to growth.

What Max Horkheimer had said about Fascism and capitalism already back in 1930s - those who do not want to talk critically about capitalism should also keep quiet about Fascism - should also be applied to today’s fundamentalism: those who do not want to talk critically about liberal democracy should also keep quiet about religious fundamentalism.

Willy De Backer's insight:

Brilliant must-read analysis by Zizek of the Charlie Hebdo killing: "Fundamentalism is a reaction – a false, mystifying, reaction, of course - against a real flaw of liberalism, and this is why it is again and again generated by liberalism. Left to itself, liberalism will slowly undermine itself – the only thing that can save its core values is a renewed Left."

Syriza has repeatedly declared its intention to keep the country within the economic and monetary union, and to avoid unilateral actions. There is little doubt that its leaders are committed Europeanists who truly believe that they could help transform the EU from within.

Willy De Backer's insight:

Excellent article in the Guardian on the political crisis in Greece and its implications for the EU. Must-read article to counter all the scaremongering which EU elites will launch to sabotage Greek democratic vote.

To the extent that degrowth is an involuntary process then another set of issues arise – will the society and economy withstand the process without catastrophic breakdowns and what can the many kinds of projects and policies described in this book do to make energy descent a survivable process for the population? A great many people will be finding that their lifestyle packages are severely stressed and breaking apart and this will generate a great deal of fear and ‘negative’ emotions.

Willy De Backer's insight:

Fascinating, must-read debate between Feasta's Brian Davey and Giorgios Kallis on the framing of #degrowth. Can we manage degrowth or do we prepare for collapse?

As it stands, 21 years of tortuous negotiations may have actually taken developing countries backwards on tackling climate change. From an imperfect but legally binding UN treaty struck in 1992, in which industrialised countries accepted responsibility and agreed to make modest but specific cuts over a defined period, we now have the prospect of a less than legally binding global deal where everyone is obliged to do something but where the poor may have to do the most and the rich will be free to do little.

Willy De Backer's insight:

Finally, an honest and insightful evaluation of the Lima failure by Guardian journalist John Vidal.

This, in a nutshell, was the obstacle. Syriza wanted a new arrangement in which the rest of the EU would trust it to deliver on its promises. The rest of the EU wanted Syriza to prove its trustworthiness by completing the current programme. Deadlock.

Willy De Backer's insight:

Balanced and interesting analysis by Frances Coppola of the deal between Greece and Eurozone leaders. But by trying to win trust from the austerity elites, could Syriza lose trust of its voters?

The ideologues of the center have the power to crater the Greek banks and force Greece out of the eurozone. But the beatings cannot continue for long. If the common sense of the so-called radicals fails to reverse the current policies, far more ominous, nationalist, racialist, right-wing forces are gathering in the wings.

Willy De Backer's insight:

Even the Washington Post understands that the austerity fundamentalists are destroying the European project.

That Europeans have finally been hit hard by the politics of austerity and debt repayments at all cost is regrettable, but it could have positive consequences if they wake up to the need to change things globally. Perhaps this Greek crisis will spur the world into action, now that Europeans not just Africans, Latin Americans and Asians are under the cosh.

Willy De Backer's insight:

Great article by Jonathan Glennie in the Guardian. We need an international debt restructuring conference.

In conclusion, the left worldwide, and in particular in Greece, has to make ecology central to its discourse and struggles. Climate change is a global problem but requires local solutions. Syriza must continue to add to the momentum of the activist movements in Greece, gain from them, and help them grow into a resistance movement and a political force. As more people participate and connect the pieces of the puzzle, i.e., local ecological catastrophes, to the larger picture, i.e. climate change and capitalism, the political awareness of these ecological movements will be awakened and will be successfully expressed through the left.

Willy De Backer's insight:

This article by Natassa Romanou of the NASA-Goddard Institute for Space Studies emphasis the real challenge for Syriza: can it link the austerity crisis with the ecological planetary limits crisis?

A new financial crisis is threatening to dwarf the 'subprime' mortgage debacle, writes Paul Mobbs. Cheap money from central banks has fuelled some $1.3 trillion of risky investments in high-cost 'unconventional' oil and gas. Now, with oil sinking below $60, all that paper is turning to junk - and that's putting the entire economic system at risk

Willy De Backer's insight:

Brilliant must-read analysis in The Ecologist on the fracking Ponzi scheme and its future downfall.

After years working on sustainability projects with BP and Shell, Jonathon Porritt says he came to the conclusion it was ‘impossible’ for today’s oil and gas companies to adapt to the need to exit fossil fuels

Willy De Backer's insight:

Of course, they have too much to lose. all talk about responsible capitalism and the like is naive.

I have already noted that a central component of Piketty’s answer to the current crisis is more of the same – that is, more growth, the proceeds of which can then be ‘redistributed’. The harsh truth, however, may well be, at the level of public policy debate and democratic discussion, that growth is in practice an alternative to egalitarian redistribution, an alternative to any serious effort to create a more equal society. The promise of growth is a replacement for the need to share. That is how growthism has ‘superseded’ socialism: ‘left-wing’ politicians join right-wing politicians in the mantra that everyone benefits from a growing pie,

Willy De Backer's insight:

Brilliant must-read critique of Piketty's 'Capital in the 21st century' starting from a 'limits to growth' perspective: 'The true condition for redistribution may well now be recognition that we can’t rely any longer on growth.'

In 2015, European voters could decide if the European Union will survive. Elections in Britain, Spain, Poland, Denmark, Finland, Portugal and Estonia will answer two big questions. First, has disenchantment with the EU reached a tipping point? Second, is the 20th-century model of big political parties based on a collective mass and centrally run party now over?

Willy De Backer's insight:

Only one answer to both excellent questions posed in this Guardian article: an affirmative 'YES'. Time to reinvent the EU and re-boot democracy.

Measuring happiness and letting it grow infinitely just as we used to do with GDP does not absolve economic activity from its ecological and societal impacts.

Willy De Backer's insight:

Thought-provoking article on the need for new 'beyond GDP' indicators questioning the 'happiness' as the new economic goal narrative. Reichel is right that 'beyond GDP' debate has diverted the discussion from issue of growth, but throws away baby with the bathwater. When shelving GDP, we need an alternative. Maybe happiness is too subjective as a goal. What about 'quality of life'?

The main threat to a prosperous low-carbon future is the waste that low fossil-fuel prices encourage. If some extra-terrestrial thief stole two-thirds of the world’s oil, gas, and coal reserves, we could still enjoy the household appliances, information technology, heating, lighting, and mobility that define the modern world.

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